9 Game Design Mistakes That Will Kill Your Indie Game

[@MrTomisou]

1. Not starting with a prototype 2. Trying to chase the trends 3. ‎Building a game for everyone 4. ‎Realism over gameplay 5. ‎No focus on UI/UX 6. ‎Inconsistent design choices 7. ‎Not having a clear vision 8. ‎Not getting feedback 9. ‎Improperly valuing feedback

[@burningmagyk4986]

you the real MVP

[@HyouVizer]

this should be the building blocks for every single game's development period honestly

[@avvvqvvv99]

lack of good art

[@AniketRajPhotographySpring]

1. Not starting with a prototype 0:21 2. Trying to chase the trends 1:55 3. ‎Building a game for everyone 2:56 4. ‎Realism over gameplay 4:36 5. ‎No focus on UI/UX 6:04 6. ‎Inconsistent design choices 7:23 7. ‎Not having a clear vision 9:05 8. ‎Not getting feedback 10:52 9. ‎Improperly valuing feedback 12:56

[@yingyangea]

you the realer MVP

[@CraftyMaelyss]

"This feels bad, it needs a bazooka." "Dude, this is a daycare simulator."

[@debleb166]

Not to mention he said realism is bad!

[@threesomeink]

To be fair, that would make a daycare simulator more fun. xD haha

[@omegakid5064]

huh, so that's where weird games come from.

[@seanocansey2956]

😂😂😂

[@izeckx]

I think that one big mistake is thinking that art doesn't matter. I'm not talking about graphics, I'm talking about aesthetics. I've seen developers who say things like "It's and indie game, the art doesn't mater". Imo, this is so wrong. The visuals is the first thing that your players will see. If they don't like what they see they will most likely just move on to something else. Again, I'm NOT talking about HD graphics or anything like that. I'm talking about design. Don't expect to attract many players if you simply grab the first thing you find online and slap it into your game without any thought about a theme.

[@robertb67]

Yeah, it's a big myth. It's usually said by good coders who are terrible artists, so they delude themselves into thinking that way.

[@magnusm4]

Who the fuck are those developers and how many calls to a psychiatrist will I need. It's those idiots that call The Order 1886 and playerunknown game of the year. THEY'RE UGLY AS FUCK. Make the damn theme fit with the gameplay and world. Lighting, design and color is more important than good graphics, you can make bad graphics looks stunning with just the fucking lighting settings in Unity and Unreal. Look at how many low poly games there are, they look nice. Journey looks breath taking and that isn't even high end details. Only use as much graphics as the game needs. Otherwise pixel art wouldn't be popular or made at all today but it is and very successful. More so than 3d games cause they focus on what is important

[@DJxTriKz]

Simple piece of knowledge Devs should go by: "If your game looks like shit, nobody will notice it."

[@TheBrazilRules]

Is Minecraft aestheticaly pleasing?

[@L0upyb0y]

TheBrazilRules Yes

[@thelonecabbage7834]

I have a buddy helping me test a game I'm working on, still prototyping, and every time it goes something like this : Him : Why am I a capsule cutting down this cylinder Me : That's your character, and that's a tree... Him : That's stupid. Me : You're supposed to be testing mechanics, not critiquing the art. Him : Why isn't there a volume slider? Me : Because there's no need to add it to the UI yet. There are other priorities. Him : You should do that. Me : Yes, that, and the 1000 other things on my list.

[@dntzonis]

Every programmers friend. It's why I don't ask them anymore

[@108wee]

unfriend them. isn't obvious that their just testing mechanics?

[@zeeksthegoblin7564]

You can tell him you are putting his ideas on a list. Some ideas can be valuable but implemented later. Improve your listening skills. We had a few negative feedback and we had the urge to jump on the pride wagon. Best thing we did was to take a step back and use the negative feedback to build a better program. This helped to distinguish good negative feedback from hate/trolling. Best thing you can do is look for platforms where there are people that test prototype indie games. You will get much better feedback. These people will take the time to test your game and give mostly valuable feedback.

[@NihongoWakannai]

And this is why you don't show early prototypes to the average person. They don't understand the process and their feedback will be almost entirely useless.

[@CritStanley]

Get a new tester...

[@marscaleb]

The first game that I was *really* working on, I mean quitting my job to work full time kind of working on, less than a week before I was going to be showing it off at a local convention I had someone else play it for the first time. I barely even asked him to try it because I felt he wasn't really into this kind of game enough to offer great feedback. But boy howdy how I needed to watch someone else play it. Apart from seeing how super-easily he would fall into pits and how much he really had to struggle to get through the first area (I simply had not been thinking that my platforming might be too hard) I had a huge revelation near the end of the level. There was a segment where the player was jumping on these clouds that were moving platforms; you'd jump on one, it would move you a short distance, then it would fade away and you had to jump to the next one before the one you were on disappeared. He was following the path they were taking him and then he jumped off into nothing. I practically wanted to yell at him for doing that instead of jumping back to where the next cloud was. Thankfully he was a smart individual and could understand and explain to me the pattern he thought he saw, and how he assumed I had placed another platform just off-camera. Meanwhile, I was so deep into this game, knowing it backwards and forwards so well, that I could not see how anyone could miss some slight detail that was going on. There was literally no way to be able to tell that the last cloud was still moving, and I totally missed this because I always understood from the beginning that it was moving. It was a huge and glaring fault that I could have nver seen without watching someone else play my game.

[@jack8162]

@@Rocco-tb9ih who tf actually cares about comment likes? It's better information for people if he is thorough in the explanation. Not everyone needs youtube comment likes for validation. grow up.

[@Funkopedia]

That's a great story and several lessons I hope you take with you into future games and levels!

[@moisealexandru3016]

@@jack8162 What he means is that feedback is very important you want it straight. But better tell this by sharing an experience.

[@siristhedragon]

10. Avoid Feature Creep. 11. Know when to cut a feature. I say this from experience.

[@hamzasehavdic]

elaborate on feature creep?

[@floatingchimney]

@@hamzasehavdic What needs to be elaborated? It's pretty clear what he means by that in game development. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feature_creep

[@hamzasehavdic]

@@floatingchimney Thank you, that was my first day looking into game design, I've come along way since, appreciate the link

[@seanocansey2956]

Also good advice

[@D_YellowMadness]

That's one of the worst mistakes that even the best devs almost always make. Almost everyone loves Celeste but almost no one likes the clouds & wind but somehow they still made it into the game. Nearly any Nintendo game has a mountain of features like that. Like Breath of the Wild's rain, Animal Crossing New Horizon's breaking tools, & the motion controlled cannons in Kirby: Triple Deluxe.

[@artman40]

Note: A when it comes to feedback, developer should state their vision of the game before asking for feedback. That makes it much easier to give feedback of what features could be added, removed or altered in order to get closer to that vision. A good game design is also contextual: What works in one game doesn't necessarily work in other game.

[@JodyBruchon]

Also, your game should largely speak for itself. Explaining what you're going for prior to getting feedback is OK, but if you have to explain the game in response to feedback for the person to appreciate it, there's something wrong. Just like in movies, show, don't tell.

[@f0ld920]

@@JodyBruchon Well, you still read the summary before buying a game. Like you don't just go buying games blind, you try to know what is the type and principle of game before you buy it. Except for particular games where everyone would tell you "don't spoil yourself, discover it"

[@KaskelotenZebbe]

10. Putting deadlines way too soon because you expect everything to go smoothly.

[@meganfisher831]

This x10. -sob- -sobs harder-

[@otacon1024]

Unfortunately, it's kind of unavoidable to an extent. Hofstadter's law is a bitch :D

[@simonw3858]

11. Saying this problem is tricky I'm going to play a game for just a little bit. Spending next few of hours doing just that, Where did that time go?

[@tysonasaurus6392]

11. Thinking it will go smoothly

[@saugatpoudel4088]

"coding your game is easier than u think........"

[@njdm5427]

THAT AD THO.. i immediately refresh the browser when that ad pops out.. XD XD XD XD

[@saugatpoudel4088]

yess same😂

[@erwinsetyoko3059]

Damn its all around the world, that same add, forever

[@pavelow67]

they may be right though

[@immortalsun]

Use an adblocker?

[@gavinrothery8825]

Coming from a 20 plus year industry vet, I have to say that this is some of the most solid, boiled down development advice I've ever heard. Good job man

[@woobear01]

Most of these mistakes apply to business software too. Well done.

[@scottcourtney8581]

The advice to watch someone else play your game is spot-on. On a recent project I did, that process yielded some of the absolute best QA possible. Seeing the player struggle with things you didn't *intend* to have as puzzles, or seeing them breeze through something you expected to be a challenge, is an irreplaceable data point in tuning the design.

[@isaiahdietz727]

3:00 "If you build something for everyone, you've build it for no one." - Albert Einstein

[@danielhounshell2526]

I see the realism part this way, if you're designing something to be completely realistic, it should generally be simulating something that the player couldn't easily go out and do themselves.

[@47Mortuus]

He just got it wrong and it's basically a totally different SUB-point of an actual point, being "make your game fun/enjoyable!". When we say "realistic" we don't mean that we have to stare at our screen for 8 hours, watching the protagonist sleep before we can move on with the story... ... We - MOST OF THE TIME - mean accurate or rather believable simulation of physics and thus visuals. Maybe some strategy games want historical accuracy in it. Or just think of all the sports games... I don't get this point whatsoever. As if real life could never be fun :D And as if realism was a part of video games and not video games being a part of reality. Just stupid.

[@D_YellowMadness]

@@47Mortuus The problem with being *completely* realistic is that most games are too long & continuous to avoid running into the downsides of realism. For example, if you go way too far in having a game be hyper realistic all the time & it's the kind of game where a level can go on for a really long time, minor details like no one using the bathroom or having periods suddenly become noticeable because you overdid it but if you actually waste time focusing on pointless details like that, your game becomes boring & feels pretentious. The Last of Us 2 & Red Dead Redemption 2 are major examples. They go so far to be realistic that every little unrealistic thing looks stupid. A character quickly & loudly opening a door in a stealth section is normally a little questionable but in The Last of Us 2, it looks absurd & is impossible to miss.

[@47Mortuus]

@@D_YellowMadness Cool - I agree that those kinda genres of games don't lend themselves to have the designers focus on realism and it paying off. Other genres do. City building games / some Tycoon games / (Grand) Strategy. There you can usually speed up time, which is an obvious game mechanic but it feals reasonable as a trade off for your "input" playing out in a believable way. It is satisfying in its own way and depending on other design aspects of course. A few other genres might be more niche but certain military shooters, certain horror/survival games, sports/racing games, etc. These often only _offer_ realism focused gameplay but that says at least something imo. But in all honesty I have a bias for the first genres I mentioned.

[@D_YellowMadness]

@@47Mortuus Those are some of the genres I play least so I know less about them but they do seem like good places for more realism.

[@magnusm4]

1: I always start with a prototype of every feature to anything, movement, rotating, jumping I start from scratch and test it apart from everything else to make sure the core mechanics works and not fail because of something in the current build which would mean I could be trying to fix a problem in the feature itself rather than make it work with everything else. I have done the basics of movement over 4 times from scratch and changing it each time as I improve even though I completely forgot everything this most recent time. 2: The cancer of game developing. The same people whose most original and imaginative idea is to make an ak 47 by yourself instead of buying it as an asset. I take my concept from the way old 3d platformers, rts and fps games did it. You take the core theme of the genre like fps, and that's it nothing else. You go from there. Doom was about shooting demons on mars and get to the end, Half Life was about traversing a laboratory base while surviving aliens and solving puzzles and Portal was just a portal gun and puzzles with nothing to kill. If you want to make a game that exists then change it so much it's unrecognizable. One fps might be slow and have preset weapons so make yours fast paced with varied weaponry you can change. It's the most important part in my opinion when designing and thinking up a game. 3: Everybody's a critic and you can't please try hards and candy crush addicts in one unless you put two different games under the same title. 4: Why does this smoking pipe spew fire? Why not?. Why does this scaled avian turn the floor to rivers? Cause it's awesome? I have a gun that fires swords that explodes into more tiny exploding swords, your argument is invalid. 5: Case in point, Heartstone. It wouldn't be fun if the cards didn't sway around as you picked them up, it wouldn't be as fun without the visuals. Ghost Of A Tale and Hollow Knight has a distinct style that makes you still feel like you're in the world and not separated into a safe haven that interferes with the world. Psychonauts does this perfectly with the item and ability selection being a cloud above the main character who looks up and looks like he's thinking, that is the same design as Undertale did by making a game feature a thing that exists in the world of the game. Also the main menu is a note book that cycles through pages and the objection text is chalk text with sound effects to further focus on the theme of the setting and immerse every interactive part into the game. And as he said make it easy to navigate and use so you don't scroll through 5 screens to hope you find the one that holds what you want. Ghost Of A Tale has this problem with multiple windows for keys, quests, texts, food, inventory, clothes, tools it's all separated and annoying to navigate through. 6: Um Painkiller and Rayman. Stay true to the style and design but change it so it varies. But what he might be referring to is when it's the same object but they look so different in different parts that you can't tell which is which. But about the core mechanics, Nitro Rad talks about this in some reviews and points out changes. You can't have a shoot em up and end the boss with a fucking quick time event, yet triple A studios fuck up harder than Richard Williams with his magnum opus. One of the best examples is Rayman 2 where Nitro Rad specifically points out in his review of it and Rayman 3 that the combat doesn't go with the game. In Rayman 2 the combat is treated as a separate thing from the rest of the game and puts the platforming and fun to a halt to simply go left and right while shooting the enemy, but in Rayman 3 as he says the mechanics in the combat are the exact same as in the platforming which you do most of the game, the power ups and attacks are used the same in the combat as in the platforming. You don't run in an fps and suddenly it turns into a stationed turret section. 7: Yeah I have this problem too, I have the gameplay and some mechanics figured out but I don't have the actual exploration. On one hand I want a clear goal but on the other I want to wander the world and explore new places but I need a reason and always know where to go and not like coming back to an mmo after weeks and not knowing wtf I was supposed to do in the middle of nowhere without an objective. 8: Quite. It's a hard thing to do not because they might steal it but because you might be afraid of their opinion or criticism. Others might feel like they would be ruining their game by showing too much or doing too little and some might say it's not enough. Or you just don't have anyone to show it to. 9: Constructive criticism. Some might focus on the bad and it's a main feature some don't like and you get obsessed with removing it or you're an idiot and only care about the positives and try to have the negative removed while starting a controversy of infamous reputation for trying to go to court with a famous youtube critic "cough" Jim Sterling and Homicide Studios "cough"

[@yupasama81]

Music + transitions are definitely enhancing the video, so good job. I think bumping your background up a notch would be cool too. When you used to film these in front of your desk, it had more of a game dev vibe than the current black curtain does.

[@ahmadel-baher2779]

Focusing on UI is a lot more important than I realized from my experience so far. My friend and I when making our game focused on having the levels of our demo work perfectly so that we can upload it on itch.io and gamejolt for people to try, putting the controls and info in the description of the game page. Turns out though that people generally don't read descriptions. If the information is not clearly conveyed in the game itself, the players will most likely not know about it.

[@ArtwithAmarBrisco]

Since I do UI/UX design and development with accessibility testing for a living the first thing for me is: 1. Make games the work for everyone which means your game should it should be accessible to user with disabilities as well. 2. Knowing your audience and design for them first 3. Great UX and UI is a must because if that does not work then it will hurt the experience 4. Your game story and concept should be clear and to the point. 5. Branding is really important and should start in the concept stage. 6. Your game mechanic makes the game the interaction between the protagonist and antagonist should really sell the story and make the game intriguing and fun to play 7. Clear documented code this help when updating and modifying the games iterations 8. User testing, debug and release management to ensure your game is meeting the needs of the user base 9. Delivering on time to your audience keeping your promises

[@user-og6hl6lv7p]

I think a lot of developers need take extra care with UI at the risk of relying on them too heavily. It seems as if a lot of games these days are made with the mindset of relaying every single piece of information possible; it reaches a point where it's practically impossible to make any progress without all of the UI elements enabled. Relying too heavily on the UI means you've messed up your gameplay design somewhere along the line. Strategy and RTS games are of course the exception.

[@tyelork]

Loving the new upbeat content and editing you're doing Tim! Keep up the great work bro!!

[@TheVinnyVincenzo]

Point 7 is also called Feature Creep. There are so many features you see that are cool and would play well with your game, but if you don't have a clear vision as Tim said you could end up with too many features and a longer development cycle. And the longer a game is in development the more unlikely it will finish.

[@thesxex]

SCOPE scope is the biggest issue every other indie i've worked with had. whether their initial vision is too complicated or weekly design meetings lead to insane feature creep, tons of indie devs have a problem with letting features go.

[@maksimhapeyenka2435]

please make a video on how to delegate work on your game to your team!! I am developing a game with my friend, I have built basic architecture on my own as we both agreed that I have more experience for that. Now, when the basic architecture is built, I need to start delegating some work to him, but I am afraid of code cleanliness, I feel like only I can implement a feature with a good quality, but at the same time I am sure, that a team can do much more than just a single person

[@noxabellus]

Step 1: Give up this notion that only you can implement a feature correctly (Let me know how that goes, haven't gotten there myself yet)

[@HoshoLegacy]

If your architecture is solid, then the various parts of the code should be nicely decoupled and your friend should have no problem working on it. Just be sure to offer to review his code, and be ready to replace any weird coupling with opaque interfaces or suggest alternative patterns if he is going down the wrong rabbit hole. If you are able to physically be in the same room as each other, you might want to try Pair Programming. (I've never tried it myself, but I hear it's tremendous!)

[@noxabellus]

Uhhh angle, just my indie opinion here but Scrum seems to be a ridiculous corporate buzz word with no practical application to this discussion

[@etj1237]

I think that Code Reviews are key. Look at his code and comment on the things you think that need to be improved. This way the programmer also gets better and the code in the end is agreed upon by the entire team to be good

[@jasonkuo41]

"If a programmer can finish a program in one month, how much does it take for two?" "Two months" Just kidding

[@danwaigand]

The Number 1 youtuber mistake, don't spend the first 20+ seconds begging for likes/subscriptions/etc, Save that for if we actually like the video and gain interest in the channel. It also keeps active subscribers from rolling their eyes. Also Educate youtube's policy and WHY People beg for that stuff.

[@scalpingsnake]

Not necessarily, not everyone watches until the end so saying at the start means more people will see it in the first place.

[@danwaigand]

and at least 23 people consider doing what i did, exiting the video without bothering to watch it.

[@danwaigand]

....I wasn't kidding tho. His video is pointing out game design mistakes. they might be right, they might be for show. But to be honest, I still haven't watched the video and I've checked the thread like 4 times now.

[@SangerZonvolt]

Which means four more views for him, assuming your IP isn´t static. So it kinda works?

[@JodyBruchon]

KZbin cares about watch time more than views.

[@CraftyMaelyss]

You're absolutely right about the fear of someone stealing your game or it's ideas, and that's why many indie devs (myself included) wait until a solid demo is done. Since you have experience, how would you handle it if someone copied or stole your game?

[@tim-ruswick]

If someone stole my idea or copied it, I'd encourage them. People have done this actually and I'd love to see their representation of it. Not only are there plenty of customers to go around, but I'm confident in my marketing and dev ability enough to not feel threatened.

[@CraftyMaelyss]

@@tim-ruswick Even if it was your very first game that you spent 3.5 years working on from the ground up, learning everything by scratch and investing everything into it? I get what you're saying, I really do but a 100% rip off or theft when you put so much effort into building up the world and lore to make it unique, that's just not worth the risk to be frank. You have so much experience and have already made a name for yourself that people will be able to tell it's stolen but for someone new or has put so much work into a passion project, it just makes it seem like a gamble that is not worth it. Again I understand what you're trying to say but it doesn't help to put any confidence in going public with a project without legal protection to protect all of your work and ideas.

[@AnonyMous-og3ct]

​@@CraftyMaelyss Ideas start to become a dime a dozen. Any gamer can come up with a marvelous idea that, when described to a room of enthusiasts, will sound like the most awesome thing ever. Very few people have the skills and patience and motivation to implement it anywhere near as good as it sounds. Naturally if you're working on a very first game, you're learning how to execute things and might place lots of value on the idea over execution. But I think as you progress towards a veteran, you're going to be up to your ears with a pile of good ideas, and you'll start to value the execution much more. Bruce Lee didn't have to worry about people stealing his choreography and ideas, since few people would be able to steal/copy them and throw punches and kicks like that even if they wanted to be exactly like him, and cheap knock-offs aren't much of a threat.

[@sdporres]

Actual real advice! First time I see your content, and im impressed. Subbed 😁 I agree with your number 1. Either your idea doesn't come out as well as you thought or you learn how hard it is to produce a concept.

[@sylvainrudolphe2563]

Great video! But my bigest mistake was to actually decide a release date right from the start! It's not a good idea, specialy if this is your first game... you have absolutely no time scale references, and if you are trying prototypes, it can take a long time to find the right balanced gameplay. What's happening then, is that you run out of time and money... so it's time to find some funding now lol.

[@MASO204]

I think I may be guilty of mechanics! I have the same enemy that moves randomly in my endless runner game. I have had a lot of feedback to say my game is too hard

[@retrocademediaofficial]

Dan Masoomi I would recommend not having a randomly moving enemy, but instead have that enemy always do the same thing randomly. For example, in Halo there is an enemy that when you approach it the enemy will run away, but it runs away to a different place each time. This means the player knows what the enemy will do, but not how it will do it. So try to re-work your enemy to instead of moving randomly, having some kind of pattern, or doing something when the player performs an action.

[@darodism]

Thank you so much good sir. I had this idea forever that no one has dared worked on because they expect a company to continue or people just dont want to but everyone 100% do want it. Got 2 others interested already and super excited for this following week. Thank you so much.

[@ComboSmooth]

i would say having way to large a scope is a super common problem a lot of creators have. Its related to the problem of not prototyping. So so SOOOO often i see a guy saying he wants to creat a grand space epic and rpg without understanding the level of work that would have to go into such a project. I tried to make a binding of isaac clone, and that alone turned out to be too big a scope for my small team, i dont know how these teams of 3-4 expect to make half the ideas they come up with.

[@Patrick-WindFish]

Good stuff. Really considering taking the plunge into solo game dev, with goal to future team dev. All new skills in this process. Just a gamer at heart and feel I can bring joy to many with designs I’ve thought of.

[@MizukiUkitake]

#4 - Realism over gameplay But... what if my goal is to make a realistic survival game for educational purposes? How much realism should I generally/ideally cut out to make it enjoyable for the general public? (And by general public, I don't mean "everyone", I mean people who would bother looking at a survival game in the first place, plus campers, teachers, and park rangers etc)

[@Tapahtumahorisontti]

There's no easy solution for this. I'm developing a game that lends its central theme and many of its core mechanics from reality in some way or another, but I've realized that many of the things I initially thought would be in my game will be dropped out because they're not fun. Just pick a few core mechanics that are intuitive and try to think what's the most important essential experience you're trying to get across, then implement a functional and engaging core loop that uses those mechanics. Most educative games I've played fall flat on this - while trying to teach something through a game is great, the game mechanics are usually not well fleshed out and are usually insultingly simplistic. Make your core gameplay good, then design your educative purposes around that core gameplay instead of designing around the stuff you're supposed to teach and then making gameplay elements that kinda support the idea. Of course, this might force you to remove some of the educative content, but unless you're a genius with a huge budget and a great team of designers and developers, you cannot have your cake and eat it too. You'll have to prioritize your gameplay over the educative content, but that way you can get players invested and interested in a concept so that they'll learn more, and that's better than having an extensive curriculum in a game with poor mechanics, because in the latter case, the players won't get ANYTHING out of your game, they'll just get bored and quit the game before they can even begin to get educated. If you want to primarily educate people, then games are not the right medium, and you should consider making textbooks or videos instead. Civilization games are an excellent example of how to do this well: There are lots of stuff about statecraft, politics and history that play no part whatsoever in Civ even though it'd be realistic to implement them. This is because devs have limited time in their hands and because some mechanics are pretty hard to implement in an engaging way. However, the in-game manual 'Civlopedia' has some info on all the game mechanics and can spark the players' interest for the subject matter.

[@StayAwayFromMyCat]

I love how this video has your 10 mistakes video suggested up next, which in turn has your 11 mistakes video suggested next. So clicking through them quickly made you sound like a Monty Python sketch. "We're gonna talk about the 9 mistakes.. " "We're gonna talk about 10 mistakes.." "We're gonna talk about 11 game development pitfalls.

[@darksteelyurius]

In regards to having a clear vision, I kind of did that without developing a Mantra. I ended up developing (in essence not actually building the models but just the idea of them) the world, the characters, bosses, and overall plot. Which kind of ended up keeping me on the straight an narrow as I play games on my off time (what little off time I seem to have) and I'll get the occasional, "Should I do this?" Then I look at my storyline and either laugh it off or just consider it but in the end say "no it wouldn't be a good fit for his/her personality."

[@roganjosh6220]

Good vids. I'd suggest putting timestamps and recaps for lists so people can get the whole picture if they phase out

[@TorQueMoD]

This ties in to prototyping out your game - Focusing on art before the core gameplay mechanics are implemented. I'm notoriously bad for working on art as I go or even before I even start coding anything, but recently when I was working on a new game idea my friend made me promise not to spend any time on the art before the core mechanics were finished and I'm so glad that I did. You don't need art for the game to be playable and it can save you loads of wasted time if either the game isn't fun or if things just need to be tweaked and changed. You don't have to have all of your code implemented but the core mechanics. If you're making a first person shooter then this means the ability to shoot your gun, damage enemies, simple enemy ai, pickups/power ups, a damage system for the player, death, respawning, aim down sights etc. If you're making a platformer then running, jumping, double jumping, dashing, wall jumping/sliding etc. etc. You can literally just use cubes to flesh out all of the artwork including your player and their weapon. This will also help you to focus only on your core gameplay loop. If it's still fun with cubes, it'll be even better with proper art but if it's not fun with cubes then no art in the world will save it. P.S. I got excited and started typing this out as soon as the author said to leave a comment and now I realize he's saying pretty much the same thing :P

[@williamwallace234]

The big mistake that puts me off when trying indie games (and also mobile games) is when the gameplay and the in world explaination of what the game is don't match. I've seen games where the art shows the player as an anime warrior chick fighting monsters, but none of any of the mechanics have anything to do with human movement or combat, the game was basically a marbles/pool type thing, so why wheren't they just honest and make the player look like a magic ball? That's just an example, but this is a common issue where the picture on the website sells me an a completely different experience than the one the game has to offer, leaving me disappointed. One common subset of this is the assumption that the player needs to be a person. You see, in any given situation a human has a massive array of things they could possibly do, and there is no game that contains all of them. Instead you should think of a real world thing that is described by your mechanics, or think of something and then describe it with your mechanics, but if the mechanics are too abstract for that then just be honest with the art and make the game completely abstract.

[@theforgot3n1]

Good point dude. People need to take seriously the importance of sense-making in games. It makes so much difference to me.

[@LordHollow]

One thing that stood out to me in regards to consistency in design: One of the Tomb Raider games had mice running back and forth on any ledge she could interact with. Once the player realized that, the level stood out to them without breaking the immersion. That was ingenious to me.

[@SharifSourour]

My problem as a developer has been the opposite, only doing the gameplay and not much bells and whistles LOL but it's still more fun than all frills but boring gameplay.

[@BryanWagner]

Got to admit, this WAY exceeded my expectations. Good stuff!

[@Lugbzurg]

I'm learning Unity, and hope to develop an unorthodox 3D platformer I dreamed about when I was a kid. Some of these should be obvious, but others I definitely needed. Definitely gotta get a prototype ready and let people play it ASAP and hope they can navigate the AI. I've also gotta further refine and narrow the focus of the vision.

[@hydrogeddonn]

Thanks for the info, I'm thinking of starting to develop a 2D game from scratch. Good info for beginners. I have extremely basic coding knowledge, but I've been wanting to test my skills and ability to learn by making something with zero previous experience.

[@viciouswaffle]

Watch Hand made Hero on youtube!

[@hhdhpublic]

Getting feedback can be pain in the arse too. Sometimes people just don't seem to get round checking your thing out and you have to keep asking them to do it and so forth.

[@D_YellowMadness]

The thing about making sure the early parts of your game are good is extremely important. I finish nearly every game I play even if I hate it because I'm obsessive & need closure but I quit Wind Waker very early despite getting past the prison because the prison killed my enthusiasm. I think the reason that happens is because what makes me suddenly get into the mood to play a certain game is remembering its vibe or an aspect I like about it so even though I know the game gets better, I still never ended up continuing because all that game makes me think about is the prison I hated & the triforce quest I wasn't looking forward to. Similarly, I started Fallout 4 like 2 years ago & decided to take a break after scavenging all the materials in the houses outside the vault. I still have the game but I've had no urge to play it since then because I have no good memories from the tiny portion I played.

[@onionfield5306]

Your topic is excellent! I'm working on a graphic novel and am amazed how these bullet-points correlate. Great stuff!

[@Dreadicon]

Having worked on numerous failed indie projects that went nowhere before my current game which actually is making progress, I have to say that a couple of the advice points here don't ring true for me as the lead designer for my current game (One Lonely Outpost). 1 - Not starting with a prototype. I broadly agree with this, but certain kinds of games deliver their experience primarily through the artwork. They have fun mechanics to go with it, sure, and obviously you do a vertical integration or demo before proceeding to the full game no matter what kind of game it is, but a huge setback to my current game was that I focused on functionality and didn't do enough art prototyping and design work, resulting in inconsistent presentation as artwork started to roll out. The art often is vitally interconnected with the overall experience. Consider the primary inspiration for our game, Stardew Valley. Playing stardew valley with placeholder graphics and sound wouldn't be fun at all (besides the mines). 2/3 - Making a game you enjoy. I can't tell you how many projects died because I wanted to make a game I would spend hundreds of hours playing (because management games are my forever love), but they repeatedly crumbled due to scope creep, perfectionism, and constantly revising things as it developed. Instead, I chose to work on a game concept I didn't come up with, which I would enjoy playing, but isn't my 'true love' game. It's done WONDERS for making the game actually happen. But the other advice is pretty spot-on, some of which I had to learn the hard way myself over the years. The only other advice I would give is knowing what you're in for. The other reason my current project is going really well when previous projects went badly is because I expected this to consume my life. I work a day job, work on my project, and then if I have extra time I get to watch some anime or play a few hours of a game. To make an indie game really happen, you have to put it above your other leisure and hobbies. Sometimes even above a social life.

[@WallJumpGames]

0:23 Not starting with a prototype 1:57 Trying to chase the trends 3:00 Building a game for everyone 4:41 Realism over Gameplay 6:05 No focus on UI/UX 7:25 Inconsistent design decisions 9:07 Not having a clear vision 10:54 Not getting feedback 13:00 Improperly valuing feedback

[@JonPFS]

Good video, One bad mistake i make and a lot of people do, its misjudging internet comments / forum comments.... If this video was a writen text most people would Not like it, but seeing the person and listening to the voice really makes it good... Sometimes you see a youtube gameplay talking bad about a game, and the developers sue the youtuber for harassment, then its a big mess... people loose intrest in the game and they know there its not going to be an improvement.... My personal favourite advice is always value a comment the person who wrote it put time and thinking into it. People who are FansOfTheGenre ( like me) always say bad things about the games they like because they want more and better.

[@nizwiz._.5906]

1. I'm safe on that, I just finished my prototype last night 2. I haven't chased anything, I just created an 8-bit bullet-hell game ._. 3. I'm not really at that level yet, mainly because I haven't shared my game, but I'll make sure that I won't do that. 4. does 8-bit robots killing unknown creatures count as realism? 5. The UI is my favorite part! I'm trying to create textboxes guiding the player through the levels. 6. I'm good with this. 7. After about 15 failed games, I think I'm safe on this one as well. 8. I just got feedback from my brother last night, and my friends from about a week ago. 9. I used all the feedback I got, and if the majority of people said that this one feature was bad, I would change it, knowing that the majority didn't like it. Thank goodness I'm safe.

[@digdugdiggy]

My only suggestion would be for you to focus less on "Top X" type videos and instead just discuss the topic at hand. Or at least put what the X things are in the description (with timestamps preferably).

[@ValoriYT]

^

[@Fjuron]

Really good tips! I am aspiering to be a game desginer and most of your points directly landed on my list of "best of game design philosophy". 😉

[@moldycarrot9267]

Great stuff. Been fiddling with board game design, and this is equally as applicable.

[@JodyBruchon]

Music is way too loud. Can't hear you talk over the music.

[@BologneyT]

I thought that too, as the volume went back down and I was relieved... because the music was too loud to hear him talk over.

[@BologneyT]

lol

[@bonehelm]

I love the new video format / editing Tim. It's much more engaging now.

[@pieraldi2]

new game dev and long time music producer here. just subscribed to your channel. thanks for your content. i thinks its really going to help me out

[@cargocultgaming9001]

GREAT video! I finished my first game, Children of Apollo, in 2017 and now I'm working on my second game. I think if I had seen this before making Children of Apollo it would've been a much better game. I think the information about how to deal with feedback especially is going to be very useful on future projects. Thanks for making this video! :)

[@Funkopedia]

All this stuff is correct, but I wish you would have gone deeper into each topic and provide 3 examples: here's an example of 1. a game that made that mistake 2. a game that didn't make that mistake 3. a game that was the exception, they made that mistake but for a good reason

[@GabrielCarvv]

oh yeah man totally agree, that wouldn't even make the video 3x harder to make and would be super easy and worth his and everyone's time, 100%

[@ponkapi8683]

awesome video, I really like this format of "here's everything I told you, but in short" and if you want to dig deeper one can always look at your videos where you go into detail PS: kzbin.info/www/bejne/p2qZna1tZ5qaf9k the video you wanted to link( The Template-document) ^^

[@maow9240]

"I have to *nod* my head no" Then proceeds to shake his head instead of nodding.

[@thefooltouchstone3569]

This is somewhat related to a "lack of vision" but I think scope creep is a major game slayer.

[@CaptainAtria]

I'm starting off by building a platformer because I love the genre and I feel like I can add to it as a whole.

[@Gnurklesquimp]

Realism in games is such a strange thing, amazing how games can get away with super contrived abstractions like how there are platforms everywhere, and you get items just as you need them, but then something far less unrealistic snaps us out of our suspense of disbelief. I wonder, have we simply been desensitized to these things through repetitions? It was a lot easier to justify abstractions back in the day, so maybe that's why most abstractions are really retro.

[@shachar2]

How do you get players to test your game? I have an idea of a game I'm thinking about and basically have nothing but I was wondering about this step. Is there a site or a forum or something? Does a forum on steam somewhere has this "option" or rule that allows you to? reddit?

[@decommissioned_redact3d183]

// Hey Tim, To answer your question: I think one of the bigger design mistakes is UNDER-UTILIZING community feedback and participation. Think of modding. Think of online communities. Think of asset creators, Think of a whole lot of people who "care" who are unable to help, only sit back and watch. If more applications focused on users building resources and contributing to the overall experience - we might stand a chance against the machine learning thing haha Yes it can get out of hand at times (like the Destiny forums..) or any online environment..But it's worth it. It may seem that the more the 'Player' knows about development- the more critical they become and they are then harder to keep satisfied. Once you know the magic trick, it's not a mystery. The carrot hanging from the stick, becomes easier to see. Have talked about this at great length in the past and would be fun to revisit the topic. Videos are getting gud bud! _"Not knowing how to code today, is like not knowing how to read and write yesterday." -Pay it forward

[@terryliu5613]

I highly agree with you in the point of focusing on playing experience and feedback, which I think that could make games better .I guess every designer probably has a lot of knowledge in psychology ...

[@devincory9695]

A lot of games have a sub-par tutorial. Making sure players properly grasp the way the game works can go a long way to getting people to have fun with your game. (And I don't mean a wall of text/dialogue explaining all of the subtle details about the mechanics of your game. The phrase, "Show don't tell" could not be more applicable here.)

[@SheonEver]

If you want to have a compelling narrative, especially with moderate or plentiful dialogue, ensure someone skilled at writing is writing it, then ensure it's been properly edited as well. Not sure if that's a separate point or part of the user experience, but it seems to be a big issue specific to indie game development, in my opinion.

[@mig-ut3gs]

I really enjoyed this video. I'm starting my first real project, and after hours and hours of coding I start to think: is this worth it? This kind of video inspires me to continue. It's not telling me "Keep working, it will turn out perfectly", it's telling me HOW to keep working SO it will turn out perfectly, and I really, REALLY apreciate that. Thx for the tips, and "keep working" ;-)

[@abbasaltake1414]

Motivation and patience is how you finish your game. I have scrapped so many project and wastes a lot of time because I lost motivation. If you can keep it you will finish it. Those are very important things to learn and have.

[@romb5432]

This is a very helpful and relevant video, thank you very much

[@papahuge]

When it comes to prototyping... can you use an already existing game as a prototype?

[@nord4296]

bro can u please give me an advice i want start creating my games and i'm learning programming and unity engine but i feel so lost .. any advice please and what should i do ?

[@SmartK8]

If you fail, you can always make -> Giant Convoluted Mess: The Game

[@HyperImaginative]

I'm currently working on a prototype of a game. I referred to it as Prototype D. It is my best prototype so far.

[@MrDrescher86]

Here are the most important things I learned from my master's in game development: 1: Prototyping - start out with simple prototypes of individual features and then for several combinations. The sooner you prototype, the better. Paper prototypes are great in the beginning, you don't have to make a digital version of prototypes in the very beginning of the development. 2: Testing - Do a lot of testing, both internally and externally, but don't test just to test. Have requirements for your prototype/game before you can test, specify what you are testing, make questionnaires and finally write your expectations from the test. It is much easier to evaluate on a test if you can see where your expectations match and not match the results.

[@averagegamer3884]

man you have great videos, you get to the point and really present real day to day topics.

[@GretgorPooper]

Thank you so much for this! I was about to do #1 without noticing it (my thought process was that my game was gonna be so short it didn't matter that I didn't choose to start with a prototype).

[@crestofscribbles8761]

These are more of project management mistakes but still great advice.

[@officialwebpagecsoftwaresc8984]

Hi sir I am CHANDRASEKHAR I intrastad build video games I am studying in this time in polytechnic last year next I plan to go Pune Veda extensionan institution sir I know wich type of programs to use in game designer ex: c,c++,and I no reply me sir please

[@thanatos1916]

I don't really know how to understand that mistake -> "Not getting feedback" I mean, I've been someone who socially talking about wasn't the best or was the most popular, and the thing which really scares me is that my game would be stolen by someone who doesn't even has an idea of what I'm trying to create, I'm trying to create not a really profitable game, but a really art masterpiece. I obviously understand that a lot of people might admire or envy or be excited because of my game (Or probably not, let's be realists), and that means that I have to take the correct decisions in order to make it a success whether or not, there are a lot of chances and things that could happen, and that is one of the thing that scares me, because I probably won't know how to react or what to do, right now i'm not simply working on my game, but taking a lot of notes and practicing a lot of things (Programming, art, etc.) so I can properly make and start well in my adventure as a game developer. Thanks to anyone that took the time to read this and try to understand, but that's the only thing that worries me about my career.

[@BlackHei711]

So in other words, Rated E for everyone is the first lie were told as gamers.

[@FusionDeveloper]

UI and UX, this is something Software Developers need to focus on that software that companies use, have to tolerate bad designs that require you to waste a ton of time and frustrating trying to translate THEIR ideas into logical placement of items in the application.

[@ghqebvful]

Is it possible to find someone that will basically make me their game making apprentice? Like I struggle with following tutorials, but if I had someone there teaching me I feel like I could get it so much easier.

[@johnscammell8941]

Ghqebvful what do you do? Art? Programming?

[@ghqebvful]

I only really know how to program C and a bit of Java currently, and I'm not a very talented artist. But I'm trying to improve both fronts with my little steps.

[@Inurendo88]

The only advice I have is to go to school to study video game design, or the closest applicable course to what you want to do. Apprenticeships do exist, however, the competition is so incredibly fierce you have to be mostly through a degree course in order to get one. Not because a degree is terribly important, it matters far more to have a great portfolio, but in order to get that great portfolio, you really need to dedicate a few years to the craft. The easiest way to do that is through school.

[@ghqebvful]

Chris Wallace I can understand that. That's kind of why I have been in school for this long. Next semester I finally get to take a video game design course. I'm excited, and yet really worried.

[@meganfisher831]

I'll take you if you're willing to download Unity and some assets I have on the shelf. I have a few solo projects in infant stages, one for mobile, one for steam, and would be happy for you to follow with me and help you as you go. I use Playmaker - visual programming quite successfully and am a very experienced artist. Whatever thing you major in (models, animations, environmental design, gameplay) there will be opportunities and fair pay on release. Skype: angry.cockatiel Hopefully we can learn together, mesh well, and go on to create a thriving studio. :)

[@McVincient]

I think we should chase the trends but if we really can! ( u know what i mean! )

[@octaharon]

I got a question given point 1. That all seems reasonable when it comes to testing out some gameplay ideas, but say you know what you're building (think of a board game being ported). Don't you think that your perception of a "prototype" is not only based on how it plays, but also on how it looks and how it feels? So isn't it worth to invest a bit into the details so it's gonna be s satisfying t every stage of existence on most aspects?

[@ThePC007]

You mentioned the importance of watching other people play your game several times, but how exactly am I supposed to go about doing so? It'd be hard to get lots of people to make a KZbin video of them playing my game so the amount of feedback I'd get this way would probably be insufficient. Another idea I'd have would be making the game itself record the player playing the game and then send that to me (I'd probably make that feature opt-in, for privacy reasons), but that would take a lot of effort to implement and you'd need some kind of server to send the gameplay footage to, as well as enough storage to store it in (obviously you could just record the game state rather than recording an actual video, but that's still data that needs to be stored somewhere).

[@BlackPotion]

Excellent tips, I remember the first game we wanted to do during our 2 years student project it was soooo impossible to realise and we were 10 on the team. It's good to make mistakes to understand better.

[@TheBrazilRules]

"We are going to be talking about the 9 design mistakes..." only 8 fingers are on the frame XD

[@JustEddieGaming]

Thanks for the info. I'm in the process of learning on my own (poor and don't have money for college) and hopefully I can eventually with trial and error make games that are fun.

[@theartnet]

I fall in love on what ever you saying from your first tip. Great highlights man. Good job, totally agree.

[@davidmarahjr908]

My problem is this. Time... A programmer is prototyping as I am making art and animations, as I simply don't have the time to wait until a desirable prototype is complete. I'm doing my best to stick to more general things that can be applicable no matter how dramatically the vision of the game changes (so long as the perspective doesn't change). But anyway, I think working in teams deserves it's own video entirely, let alone when it's remotely and in different time zones/countries like me lol.

[@Kilmoran]

I honestly have the most trouble when a player just tells me how they feel about something. I don't mean whether something is good or bad, but more just sharing that something feels off or feels unfair. I have no idea what to do about that what so ever. I have even told them that I can't really do anything with that feedback. Sometimes that upsets them though.

[@akeem4772]

it would be cool to hear your opinion on trademarking names for companies or games titles

[@jdpickastring6975]

Great video I'm subscribbing right away! Is there any game dev hub/forums to share ideas and get feedback from other game devs? Would be great to get feed back from people all around the world.

[@jdpickastring6975]

Nevermind I answer myself with game dev underground :)

[@Repanon00]

Appreciate this a lot as well as other videos you've done. I'm about to do the testing phase on my video game first level with friends and the public and this is great wisdom to chew on.

[@R4ngeR4pidz]

Nice layout of the information and nice, quick and concise explanation on your points. I like the video man Only thing is, maybe zoom out your camera a little bit, or maybe the lighting is a little off and the contrast between you and the background is too high. It just doesn't feel nice to look at right now

[@ty_teynium]

This question is for anyone: When it comes to the prototype do the shapes matter as in do you assign one shape to a specific game object or asset, or is it just for foundational purposes?

[@L0upyb0y]

I don't think it matters if you use color coding... Most entities prototyped in Unity will use a "pill" shape if you search for tutorials on YT. But if you want npcs to stick out for example, just put a green color instead of red for ennemies or something like that. Or you can use the default "Unity Prototyping" asset package.

[@PixelOutlaw]

1. Thinking there isn't an excess of "indie" games already. The market is /super/ saturated. If indie games where a physical thing we'd be shoveling them off our walkways and out windows.

[@shadowfilm7980]

Really good thorough video. Thanks! Liked the way you talked and explained things. The pros and cons. 👍❗️

[@RaidenKaiser]

I just now found you and you're actually more bearable than extra credits to watch....now no offense to extra credits tho I know most of the time they mean well (keyword most of the time the last controversy they had showed how badly disconnected players and publishers are now)

[@igs4112]

I always did prototypes and build tests for the game, but for the first time ever i tried just to do the game itself, and it was hella great! Sometimes is good to go into the grinder and just do it :)

[@Casedilla73]

I feel like my main problem is realism. I want the player to be able to do basically anything they would be able to do in the real world. Take a survival game, for instance. I want the combat to be challenging, interactive, and fun, but also not too hard for players not as experienced. I want there to be an interactive, say, crafting system where the player can actually craft and build things freely, like in Minecraft, where you can place and destroy blocks wherever you want. I don’t want it to be like The Forest, where there’s an outline and specific, forced designs. I want the player to be able to intuitively craft whatever they want without having to look at an odd, unexplained “survival book”. I just want everything to be deep enough while still making it fun and intuitive. My main problem here is just going too far with realism and trying to put everything in the real world into the game. Any advice or ideas?